


Life's Funny Ways Of Telling You To Get Laid

by fallenice



Category: Arashi (Band), KAT-TUN (Band), Kanjani8 (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-05
Updated: 2013-01-05
Packaged: 2017-11-23 18:25:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/625256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fallenice/pseuds/fallenice
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A peek into two linked lives: Kame and his best friend, Jun, who both have love issues to resolve.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Life's Funny Ways Of Telling You To Get Laid

**Author's Note:**

> For Je_devilorangel 2012, prompt is: Prompt: Kanjani∞;Dye D: I'm falling in the forbidden love with you. Written with MD. Betaed by C.

This is Kamenashi Kazuya’s first night home in 3 days.

After emerging from a hot bath, he lights the incense that Matsumoto Jun – his friend since childhood – has bought for him, and grabs something comfortable from his wardrobe to wear before collapsing into his bed. (Kame used to sleep naked, but there was an earthquake once and escaping with only his underwear on was not an experience Kame wanted to repeat). He is about to reach dreamland when the screech of an electric guitar cuts through the silence of the night.

Who the hell plays the guitar at midnight, Kame grumbles in his head. He blindly reaches for the baseball he has on his bedside table and throws it in the general direction of the noise. It ends up hitting the wall separating his apartment and his neighbour’s before bouncing back to land on the floor with a thud that is soft against the loud music. The music doesn’t seem to show any sign of stopping and Kame proceeds to cover his ears with his pillow to try to keep the noise out.

It doesn’t really help but Kame is tired enough that sleeps takes over him anyway.

 

 

 

*

 

 

 

**KAT-TUN & Co  
Discovering Your Talents To The Limit.**

Kame enters his company, coffee in hand and unsurprised to find that it is empty except for Nakamaru Yuichi who is concentrating very hard at typing out emails of apology to the other talent companies which have been gunning for the model that finally ended up with Arashi & Associates. KAT-TUN & Co, simply put, is a head hunting company, which searches for _future stars_ and then market them to talent companies. Due to the winner-takes-all nature of the industry, there are always people to say sorry to – if you care. In KAT-TUN & Co, only Nakamaru feels the need to, despite his colleagues telling him that it’s more than okay not to do so.

Kame decides to stick his head onto Nakamaru’s shoulder while the latter is wording an e-mail, causing the other man to jump from the shock of the sudden contact.

“Not again,” Nakamaru whines to Kame as Ueda Tatsuya enters the office, earpieces plugged into his ear as he sits in the furthest corner of the room, immersed in his own world. Junnosuke arrives not long after, and upon spotting an obviously-sulky Ueda, immediately heads in his direction.

“Ueeeepiii!” Junno chirps far too brightly for a Monday morning and sits on the desk right beside Ueda, dangling his feet in the air. Ueda chooses to ignore Junno at first but Junno refuses to be ignored and starts to wave his hands in front of Ueda in a bid to seek attention. The sulky man glares at Junno for disrupting his morning peace and proceeds hold Junno’s wrist in a death grip. Keeping his glare at Junno, he twists Junno’s wrist.

“Ouch!” Junno says when Ueda finally releases him. But his smile does not fade.

Koki enters the office last, a puppy in his arms, “I found this little guy all alone on my way to work,” he explains, making cooing sounds at the puppy who is staring at Koki in the cutest way possible.

“Would you keep me as a pet too?” Junno hops over, changing his target from Ueda to Koki.

“Never,” Koki kicks Junno before heading to his table and grabs some blankets from his drawer, using them to make a small corner for the soon-sleeping animal. Junno leans over and tries to make pet-worthy faces at Koki who has chosen to ignore the taller man. In the midst of what is a typical morning at KAT-TUN & Co, Kame’s cellphone vibrates with a message from Jun.

To: Kame  
From: Jun  
 _Drinks tonight with my friends?_

Besides being Kame’s close friend, Jun is also part of _the_ Arashi  & Associates, the biggest talent management company around with talents in the arenas of (but not limited to) modelling, music-making, acting, hosting and news-casting, Kame’s childhood friend, happens to be one of the bosses of the company.

Technically, Kame has to write up promotional proposals, do the strategic planning for the second half of the year, work out the budget, source for new talents and thus have no time to spare for a drink. Then he looks at the state of his colleagues.

He will probably need that drink.

 _Too many emoticons_ , Jun replies to Kame’s affirmation. But years of friendship tell Kame that Jun is pleased.

 

 

 

*

 

 

When Subaru walks into the shop on this day, he doesn’t look any less sleepy than the day before. The others aren’t surprised; Yoko, his best friend, just makes him a black coffee and hands him a pack of snacks – Subaru never was fond of sweet things, not even for breakfast.

“Did you even sleep?” the barely older man asks, and Subaru is tempted to go in the storage room and take a nap.

“I had a song idea.”

Yokoyama Kimitaka – the same guy who had the initial idea for the twin shops and the same guy who’s still playing video games all night long even though he’s past thirty years old – laughs. He doesn’t look that much more awake though. Subaru reminds himself not to give him the finger, just as Murakami Shingo, their childhood friend and conveniently (unofficial) accountant, enters the shop.

“Kimi, stop bothering Shibuyan so early in the morning,” he growls, eyes still stuck on the lines of numbers of his laptop – and how is he not tripping in his own feet and collapsing, Subaru wonders about it every single day that God gives.

“But it’s past _ten_!” Yoko screeches, only to be ignored.

When Ryo (their self-proclaimed ‘not-a-midget’) comes out of the storage room with a cardboard box full of red shirt with skulls so big that they can barely see him behind it, Subaru finishes his coffee and decides that it’s time to open.

 

 

 

*

 

 

Just next to _Kanja’Rags_ , there is the second shop, a hairdresser – _Eito Cut_ – controlled with sparkles and epic ideas by Yasuda Shota, who is, in Subaru’s mind, the perfect mix between a girl and a man. Yoko whines that Subaru spends too much time there when there’s nothing to do at the shop, obviously not bothered by the fact that Maru, who works with Shota, is spending a lot of time in Kanja’Rags himself when there aren’t that many clients to deal with.

And, anyway, he just needs to step out of the shop to be in the salon. And Shota, even though not being his closest friend, is always the best one at listening to Subaru’s rants.

“So,” Yasu asks while styling a young woman’s hair, “still having troubles with that neighbour of yours?”

Subaru sighs. “Who the hell cheers over sports at eight in the morning anyway?”

Busy sweeping the floor – and mostly procrastinating ‘till lunch – Ohkura laughs.

“Is that why you didn’t sleep? Or did you play guitar again?”

This time, Subaru flips him the bird, chuckling when an old woman sitting at the shampoo area gasped at the gesture. Ohkura just winks, even more amused.

“ _SUBARU!!!_ ”

Maru (Maruyama Ryuhei, Ohkura’s neighbour since they were six and attended school with Shota) lets out an appreciative whistle. “Kimi-kun’s voice can even go through walls now.”

Unimpressed, Subaru ties his long hair in a ponytail that makes Shota frown disapprovingly, and decides to go back to his own assigned shop. “Murakami must be hitting on clients again.”

 

 

 

*

 

 

Kame and Jun end up meeting Ninomiya Kazunari and Aiba Masaki at the usual hang out. Kame is slightly surprised, but more curious because the last person Jun brought to meet Kame was Inoue Mao who ended up being Jun’s girlfriend for the next five years. They broke up about two years back, though. Since then, Jun’s love life is a blank and if Kame wants to be poetic about it, it’s as if Jun’s heart has gone into hibernation.

Nino and Aiba are both Jun’s colleagues. According to Jun, Nino is in charge of the musicians while Aiba is in charge of the variety shows.

“And staff welfare!” Aiba adds enthusiastically.

“No one cares about that,” Nino bites back. Jun follows up Nino’s jab with an offhanded comment about how the number of animal related programs has increased since Aiba took over the post.

“But animals are cute and everyone loves a good animal show!” Aiba defends himself and seeks for approval from Kame, “Right? Right?”

Kame finds himself nodding and smiling, there is something infectious about Aiba that makes you want to go along with whatever he does, no matter how ridiculous it is. From the way Jun’s body slouches against the chair, Kame can tell that he is definitely being dragged along the Aiba-wave and _enjoying_ it.

“Hey, why don’t we mix Kame’s drink with Jun’s and see what it tastes like?” Aiba suggests at the spurt of a moment. They all turn to look at Aiba – Jun glaring, Nino gawking in disgust and Kame smiling politely. He tries to shake the feeling of how he feels awfully out of place in their little quartet.

“You make it, you drink it,” Jun snaps as Aiba happily mixes the drinks together. Despite the look of reluctance that Jun is giving Aiba, Kame knows better. Twenty years of friendship taught Kame how to spot the smile that is threatening to come out from the corner of Jun’s lips every time he hits Aiba’s head. It has also taught Kame how to recognize the sound of satisfaction from the banter with Nino.

The rest of the evening goes on pretty peacefully with Jun as the middle-person and the four of them make decent conversation (mostly revolving around baseball with a bit or two of celebrity gossip thrown in the mix) and Jun’s body posture screams pleased at the overall development although he spends half the time in banter with Nino or hitting Aiba for messing up names of talents (seriously, how can one mix up Kitagawa Keiko and Johnny Kitagawa?).

Somewhere around the two-hour mark, Jun excuses himself to leave for the washroom and Kame notices the way Nino and Aiba’s gaze linger at Jun’s retreating figure, and comments, “Jun can be clueless at how charismatic he is.”

“He doesn’t know how charming he is,” Nino agrees.

“Or how he has already netted you two?” Kame continues and Nino laughs. Aiba looks confused.

“Want to help us?” Nino says, taking out his cards from his pockets and shuffling them with the ease of a pro. Aiba still looks awfully confused and keeps jabbing at Nino to try to get him to explain the situation. Getting irritated, Nino simply kicks him underneath the table to shut him up and Aiba pouts in response. Nino ignores him.

“Don’t worry about him,” Nino says, spotting Kame’s glance at Aiba. Aiba makes another unhappy face at being excluded in the whole conversation. “Do we get the approval of the Great Kamenashi?”

“What do I get in return?” Kame continues the previous conversation, swirling the alcohol in the cup as he speaks.

“Pick a card,” Nino says instead and this time Aiba leans towards Nino to take a better look at the trick. Kame notes at how Aiba’s hands rest naturally onto Nino’s thigh. So that is how it is, huh, Kame thinks to himself, trust Jun to need _two_ .

“Keep the card,” Nino says, upon spotting Jun returning and calls his magic show to a premature end.

Kame finds Nino’s number written on the ace of hearts card when he gets home.

Definitely a sly one, Kame concludes.

 

 

 

*

That night, another baseball joins the one Kame threw last night on the floor.

Seriously, who the fuck practices at 3 in the morning.

 

 

 

*

 

 

When Aiba and Nino reach home that day, Nino is being roughly tackled by Aiba at his genkan. Aiba, slightly drunk from the earlier session, wraps his arms around Nino and licks Nino’s earlobes, “I love you.”

“You stink,” Nino says, using his usual brattiness as a shield. Aiba whines and rolls his hips against Nino’s – it seems that the taller male has already being worked up for a while. Aiba ignores Nino’s jabs and latches on his neck instead, leaving a trail of wet kisses as his free hand roams underneath Nino’s top and touches everywhere. Somewhere in the middle of it all, he manages to get Nino’s shirt out of the way too.

Nino, on the other hand, tries to drag a drunk and obviously horny Aiba into their bedroom. They finally end up on the couch because Aiba does that wicked thing with his fingers on Nino’s nipples and all Nino can do is give in and collapse onto the nearest surface. It is going to be horrible the next morning, Nino’s mind supplies briefly. But as Aiba pulls Nino’s pants down, he decides that he will deal with that later.

“I wonder what would Jun look like if he was right here?” Aiba says, fingers curling around Nino’s hardness.

“Watching us?” Nino replies, breathless from Aiba’s ministrations. “Kinky.”

“And touching himself while watching us,” Aiba continues, pumping Nino as he does. He always has a vivid imagination. “Maybe he won’t be able to stand it and will pin either of us down…”

Nino moans.

“And then,” Aiba’s own voice get shaky as he pictures the scene in his head, speeding up his actions on Nino’s cock, “he will fuck you hard and make me watch.”

Nino imagines Jun’s cock stretching his hole while Aiba’s beautiful cat-like eyes, shining with lust, watch them; he feels himself gets harder at the thought. Aiba seems to know that and squeezes Nino hard. Making a beautiful sound, Nino comes.

When Nino returns to his senses, Aiba is slowly jerking himself off at the sight of Nino in his short moment of complete bliss. Nino, finding his strength return post orgasm, crawls into Aiba’s lap and swipes Aiba’s hands away to replaces it with his mouth, doing all sorts of delicious things to his hardened flesh. Aiba, now hands free, decides to grip Nino’s shoulders for support. His grip tightens as Nino takes in more of him and gets even more daring with his mouth. Aiba can feel Nino’s groan on his erection at a particularly hard grip and the grip on Nino’s shoulders becomes a claw. He is quite sure that he is going to leave marks on Nino shoulders later, and it turns him on even more. In response to the pain, Nino’s lips simply curl into a smirk against his hardness and takes him deeper.

Aiba finishes soon, after Nino scrapes his cock with just the right amount of teeth.

“I wish Jun would be here with us,” Aiba whispers to Nino, coming down from his high.

“Soon, soon,” Nino replies enigmatically.

 

 

 

*

 

As expected, the next morning starts with Nino kicking Aiba off the couch roughly. The other man wakes up from the impact and rubs his eyes, taking a while to register the fact that Nino has physically abused him.

“Oy,” he says weakly in protest, not completely awake, “Let me back on the couch!”

“Go shower and get ready,” Nino says instead.

“You go,” Aiba whines.

“I am comfortable here so _you_ go,” Nino replies, giving Aiba a kick in his torso to emphasize his point.

“Fine,” Aiba gives in (like he always does) and drags his feet to the bathroom.

There is nothing left in the fridge for breakfast for the both of them and Nino, instead of being upset, decides, “We will make J feed us then.”

When the duo enters _Arashi & Associates_, they are greeted with Jun, still not completely out of his usual morning crankiness, staring at them weirdly. Nino and Aiba both feel like they are scrutinized from head to toe and to be honest, it’s a look that will put most of people off. For the duo though, it sends feelings in another direction (namely downwards) instead.

They swallow the lust down.

Jun interprets their silences as him being way too weird and looks away, pouring the coffee beans into the coffee machine for his second cup of caffeine that morning. He will very much like to drown that sour feeling coming from the bottom of his heart. Where else can the red marks on Nino’s shoulders come from? Especially since Aiba’s nails are chipped as well.

Right before the cup reaches Jun’s lips though, Aiba’s stomach chooses to groan. He looks around cheekily, hands wrapped around his stomach and mouths an apology. Jun walks over to him and slaps his head gently, staring at Nino who is standing beside him and trying very hard to muffle a laugh with his hand. Jun finds himself staring at Nino’s small hands and it covers his mouth. He forcefully suppresses the urge to hold the other man’s hands, but he can’t seem to stop wondering how would Nino’s smaller hands feel underneath his own.

He shouldn't be disrupting other people’s peace.

“Let’s go to get breakfast,” Jun says, willing those negative thoughts away, “And Nino, I know what you did there,”

 _No you don’t_ , Nino wants to say.

“Anything to save money,” he says instead. _Just a little longer._

 

 

*

 

 

“Shouldn’t you be working or something?”

Hiroki only beams, and Yoko giggles behind them. Ryo glares at his best friend.

“We’re not a circus. Go back to whatever you’re supposed to be doing.”

Subaru watches them from his spot on the counter. Hiroki, the youngest one out of the eight, is supposed to do their commercial work – a.k.a. buy clothes, establish contracts with big brands, have flyers printed, handle the eventual troubles.

Only, his speciality, when his days are not full enough, is to come either at the salon or at the shop, and chat with someone. Today, he seems to be in a mood to bother Ryo. (Which isn’t too difficult, considering the guy’s short temper. But Hiroki and Ryo have a special relationship – special as being a contest for who’s going to last the longer at not killing the other one. Subaru likes to mentally count the points.)

“I had things to do here anyway,” Hiroki says, charming as ever, before turning to Shingo, his smile disappearing.

“You. When will you stop flirting with customers and random people?”

Hanging his head, Murakami smirks. “Awww, who whined this time?”

“Same as always,” Hiroki shrugs, “Nakamaru of KAT-TUN, who else. He barely comes once a month and he’s got more complaints than all of our customers combined.”

“It’s because I go at the same place he goes for lunch, you know, in that ramen shop just next to—“

“You need to stop hitting on this one,” Ryo cuts him, hanging jackets with colourful glitter on them, “or we’ll have his asshole of a friend coming over again.”

“Ueda-san is NOT an asshole,” Kimi cuts then, frowning. “He’s my brother’s friend and they work together, so…”

Ryo rolls his eyes; it sounds almost like a personal problem to Yoko at this point. “Like I care about Junno’s feelings; for all I know, he could also screw with Ueda that I wouldn’t give a shit about it.”

Leaving them to finish their pointless argument, Hiroki points at Shingo. “Seriously. Don’t do it. Or else we’ll have to give them money. You don’t want that to happen, right?”

Shingo blinks. “Hell no.”

“Good. I’ll be out then.”

Before leaving, though, Hiroki turns to Yoko with a wink. “Kimi-chan, by the way, tell your brother that he and Ueda-kun are welcome here any time.”

The curses Ryo lets out are enough to make all the old ladies run away from Shota’s salon.

 

 

 

*

 

 

Koki comes to the office with permed hair and a hoodie the next day.

“You look like Jin,” Junno comments, earning himself a kick in his ass. Jin is their correspondent in the USA, helping them search out Japanese or American talent interested in pursuing an entertainment career in Japan. Koki and Jin also have some form of a rivalry going on.

Ueda refrains from telling Koki he looks like the puppy he brought back the day before.

“I think we have found our next top model at my hairdresser’s!” Koki proclaims proudly.

Junno beams brightly, Kame raises one of his disbelieving eyebrow before going back to writing up on the promotion strategy of their newest idol, Nakamaru tries to listen in to Koki while apologizing over the phone to another screaming employee of another department. Ueda pens down a few more notes on his musical notebook.

They plan a trip down to Koki’s barber anyway.

 

 

 

*

 

“Oh you’ve gotta kiddin’ me!” Ryo shouts from his shop when Maru comes to report the visit from all of KAT-TUN’s employees; it takes a lot of convincing (and threatening) from both Uchi and Shingo to stop Ryo from going at Yasu’s salon and punch Ueda in the face – their little fighting is old, but it never loses strength.

When Hiroki – followed by the others minus Ryo – shows up at Eito Cut, Kame is already talking animatedly with Ohkura.

“Hey bro!”

Kimi and Junno high-fives each other and start talking about video games (again), while Kame rolls his eyes at the sight of his own sibling. “Go away.”

“I _work_ here,” Hiroki protests, pouting, “and I’m the one you need to talk to if you want to hire Tacchon anyway.”

“So Junno’s brother works with you and Kame’s brother is your boss?” Koki stage-whispers to Yasu. That one just giggles, even more when Nakamaru shrieks and tries to hide behind Ueda at Shingo’s grin.

“Hi, Nakamaru-kun, how are you? Still as gorgeous, aren’t you?”

“Shingo!” Hiroki hisses, but the older man doesn’t even spare him a glance.

“How do you even know each other?” Ueda asks Koki, trying not to be annoyed at Yuichi using him as a human shield against molester guys. “Did you meet here?”

Shota raises an eyebrow. “Eh? No. He’s my best pal. We’ve known each other since…”

“…1993, yeah” Koki finishes, and Junno pokes at Ueda’s arms. “You didn’t know?”

Ueda shrugs. “Your lives have very little importance for me, I thought you knew that already.”

“And you are…?”

Subaru pops out of his amused staring, and turns to Kame, who’s watching him intently, waiting for an answer.

“Shibutani Subaru,” he replies, burying his hands in his ripped jeans’ pockets.

Kame blinks. “You don’t ask my name? Not very professional.”

“You’re Hiro’s brother,” Subaru snorts, “that’s all I need to know, really.”

“Awwww, Shibuyan made a friend,” Maruyama coos, patting him on the head; Subaru immediately glares and pushes him and scowls, but it only makes the others laugh at him.

And well, Kame thinks Subaru is kind of cute, really. Long hair, makes the cutest faces, looks out of a rock gig. Not his usual type, but definitely endearing.

_…wait what is he even…_

“So,” Hiroki says then, looking between Kame and Ohkura, “shall we take an appointment for later?”

 

 

 

*

 

 

Jun gets a phone call from Kame saying that there is a half Japanese-American who Jin has scouted and asks if Jun is interested.

Sakurai Sho (another of Arashi’s bosses, in charge of the news casters) walks past Jun en route to the photocopying machine and overhears half of the conversation. He registers the terms “Kame”, “American”, and “Model” in his head and draws up the connection quickly (he _did_ graduate from Keio University after all.)

Frantically, he makes a cross sign with his fingers causing the papers that he has been holding on to scatter all over the place. The sound of the papers falling attract Nino and Aiba’s attention and they laugh loudly and obnoxiously at Sho’s plight. Ohno Satoshi, last of the Arashi & Associates’ bosses, is looking blankly in Sho’s direction but whether he is actually processing what is going on is questionable.

“No way I would work with Akanishi Jin again,” he mouths as he shakes the cross he makes with his fingers to emphasize his point, “no freaking way!”

Jun frowns at Sho’s insistence but passes the message along anyway. “My hands are full right now, but thanks for the offer, Kame. Drinks later?”

“You know, halves are the ‘in’ thing…” Jun tries to tell Sho after he puts down the phone.

“I am _not_ working with Akanishi again,” Sho interrupts, “once is enough.”

The last time Arashi & Associates signed a girl that Akanishi brought in, she gave the company enough scandals and problems for a whole year ranging from no-shows at TV premieres to cursing at the producer of a variety show. The good thing is that she got herself pregnant within the same year and married the father (some dancer). Sho, being also Arashi & Associates Public Relations head, will very much like to have talents that will not add on his growing workload and contributing further to his receding hairline.

Jun sighs and decides to think of the positive side. At least Sho didn’t throw cellphones or umbrellas in protest this time.

 

 

 

*

 

 

“Who?”

“Tacchon. Ohkura Tadayoshi. I talked about him to you, didn’t I?”

Ohno takes a mouthful of his bento, and nods.

“Yes, you did. I remember now. The one who likes to drink too much and called me by my first name the first name we met?” It was also the only time, his brain supplies.

Maru nods, grinning. “Yep. Apparently these guys said your boss—“

“MatsuJun’s not my boss.”

“…well your workmate would be very interested.”

Thinking about it, Ohno watches his friend drinking his canned soda, and suddenly gets the urge to draw something; but it’s only lunch and there’s no way he can go back home now.

“Did Nino’s brother stop arguing with the pouty one?”

It’s Maruyama’s time to look confused. “The pouty one?”

“Y’know, the guy from KAT-TUN who does boxing… I think he stole Nino’s brother’s girl once?”

“Ueda?” Maru laughs. “Oh, that’ll never end between these two, even though Hiro-chan is plotting in their backs.”

“By the way,” he adds after closing his bento, “what do you know about that Kamenashi guy? He looks like a model. Or a diva. Or both.”

Might be not far from the truth, Ohno thinks. “He’s friend with MatsuJun,” he sighs, “so that surely means you’re right. So far I only met him a few times anyway. Why’s that?”

Standing up and dusting off his butt, Maru chuckles. “I have a friend who talks about him quite a lot, since yesterday.”

 

 

 

*

 

“Oh-chan,” Nino says, approaching a half-asleep Ohno and perches himself on his lap.

“Shall we have dinner tonight?”

Ohno shakes his head, looking up from his drawing and then at Nino, “Why don’t you go out with Jun-kun and Aiba-chan instead?”

Forever honest.

Nino remains silent and taps his fingers on the DS while Ohno returns to drawing his next proposal. It’s nice working with artists and illustrators, Ohno thinks, they can understand him through his pictures and he barely needs to talk. If he really needs to talk, he will get Sho to help him. Sho is talented with words. And many other things that Ohno himself isn’t.

As Nino’s fingers dance around the controls, he lets his mind walk down the memory lane, replaying the scenes of their first meeting. Nino can still remember the rings that Jun is wearing, the sparkly black nail polish he was wearing and how he sat on the sofa of the reception room, legs crossed and taking up more than half of the three seater sofa.

Inconsiderate, was Nino’s first impression.

In his head, he had expected Jun to be a bossy diva that didn’t really care about what other people felt and thought that the world revolved around only himself. But then he started bringing herbal teas for Aiba’s spring allergies. Then he found riceballs sitting on his desk when he returned to the office after a long day of negotiating with stubborn producers. On his birthday, Jun brought him hamburger steak from the most expensive restaurants in Ginza and _apologized_ for being unable to make it on his own.

Unsurprisingly, Nino found himself re-examining his preconceived notions of Jun.

Sure Jun is demanding, but he is also one of the kindest and most sensitive persons that Nino knows. He glares and scolds, but he is also always the one waiting with a good cup of coffee and handmade tiramisu at the end of every crisis.

The scariest thing is how well Jun fits in with him and Aiba.

Nino comes to the conclusion that Jun is like a wild card. He comes in, disrupts the stability of Nino and Aiba’s long term relationship, make Nino and Aiba realize that there is something more out there. Jun makes them _crave_.

 

 

 

*

 

On the 6th day of Kame’s ordeal with the inconsiderate neighbour, he decides to take proper action. He storms up to his neighbour’s door and knocks. And knocks. And knocks again.

No one opens the door.

He curses at his luck and decides that he will try again the next day.

 

 

 

*

 

 

It’s sales time for the clothes shop, which means that everybody’s needed for putting prices and ordering clothes and such for at least two days. Shota closes the hairdressing salon during this time, like every year, and all of them – minus Uchi who suddenly used the fact that he had a lot of work outside as an excuse – are spending the days (and part of the nights) between the main room and the storage.

It also means that Subaru cannot open his mouth without being laughed at. Not his fault if that damn Kamenashi always ends up in the conversation since that time in Yasu’s salon. Kamenashi who’s the total opposite of what Subaru usually likes, but still looks hot and had a skull on his bag. Someone who likes skulls cannot be bad in Subaru’s mind.

“Shibuyan’s having a crush,” Shota sing-songs while checking boxes of jeans that they have since last year and never got sold – they don’t size properly, and people don’t like feeling like they got fat since last time they bought pants.

A pen flies close to his nose. “I am NOT having a crush!”

“You so are,” Murakami comments thoughtfully from where he’s aligning numbers and percents. “It’s like he brainwashed you in barely three minutes.”

“Did _NOT_!” This time it’s an old pencil that flies. Shingo sends it back without even watching, and Yoko takes it in the nose.

“Why don’t you just admit that he looks good?” Ryo teases. Subaru throws a trouser hanger, which hits the left arm.

Ohkura sighs, patting Subaru on the back. “It’s okay, you know. It’s a bit like Hiro-chan and Ryo-chan.”

This time it’s Ryo who’s screaming “It’s NOT!” and Yoko starts to whine about how everybody’s terribly noisy today.

Subaru sulks. Usually it would be a bit fun, but with his damn neighbour shouting at baseball games ‘till midnight, he didn’t get enough sleep. And as he couldn’t sleep anymore once the guy finally shut up, he played guitar until 4 in the morning. Of course.

Taking care of tiger-printed shirts in the back, Maru giggles. “Poor Subaru, Uchi’s brother seems far too superficial for you anyway.”

Subaru runs out of things to throw. So he throws himself at the taller man, ignoring Yoko’s shriek of _“you’re going to rip the goddamn clothes, you idiots!”_

 

 

*

 

 

It turns out that besides the new acquisitions that they have made at the barbershop, Junno has also managed to find some new talents from his newest hobby (fishing, was it?). Nakamaru has tried to keep track of Junno’s hobbies but they change so frequently that he gave up. Kame suspects that Junno himself can’t remember them all himself.

Anyhow, Junno has introduced a few new potential talents and in between interviews, testing, appointment scheduling, proposal writing, Kame has spent the past few nights in the office. When he finally gets home, he is so tired that even the loudest music won’t affect his sleep.

Sleeping in the office meant that the inconsiderate neighbour issue has been shelved aside for solution another day.

 

 

 

*

 

“What the hell—You ate everything? I made it for myself!”

“Did you know that we used to be a band, too?”

Kame almost throws what’s left of his crème brûlée at Hiroki’s face; the other man just pouts.

“You’re not listening!”

“I don’t understand how you all playing some kind of music is supposed to be interesting, Hiroki.”

“What is your job, already?”

Right. Kame cringes; his brother always knows how to score right with him.

“Fine. Tell me about your past glory so I can forget about it as quickly as I can.”

Hiroki rolls his eyes, unimpressed. “We were good though. There were a few bars where we used to play a lot.”

“And what were you playing,” Kame snorts, “Enka?”

“Rock. Subaru was our main singer.”

At the other guy’s name, Kame’s interest is finally undivided. He mentally slaps himself for being so easily baited by the mention of a man he barely knows, but lets Hiroki talk more about how they kinda stopped when they opened the shops, though they still rehearse from time to time.

“Any chance that you’d let me come to one of your so-called rehearsals?”

Hiroki’s grin should really scare Kame more than it already does.

 

 

 

*

 

They schedule the band down for a ‘performance’ the next week. Ueda is coming too – he should be able to tell how good those boys really are – and Kame manages to pull Nakamaru along, if only for the sake of getting him out of his office (and also a bit of a sadistic need to witness yet another Murakami/Nakamaru exchange.)

When the day comes, Kame finds himself unable to look away from Subaru; it’s like he’s another man when he sings. He’s passionate, screams, lets his hair cover his face and bounces all over the place. So different from the shy, discreet, almost subdued Subaru he met days before.

And, he must admit, they’re all pretty good. Hiroki wasn’t gloating for nothing. Even Ueda, after two songs, makes an appreciative face and gives Kame a thumb up. And Nakamaru, well, if at first he was trying his best to escape, now Kame can hear him beat-boxing softly along with the rhythm – it’s not a very well known fact that Yuichi Nakamaru is a beatboxer, sadly, but he’s a real beast at it.

“I think we should try to get y’all to play more,” Ueda says once they’re done. “If you want to, that is.”

They all nod actively, Yasu and Maru squealing in sync and hugging each other. Ueda makes a face at first, but still smiles a bit. Nishikido doesn’t even try to strangle him out of the blue, so it’s not so bad.

Nakamaru is the one to ask that they leave, now, quickly, because Murakami keeps on trying to woo him; Nakamaru is red and flailing as he tries to escape the other man’s interested hands, and when they bid their farewell Murakami still manages to leave a noisy smooch on Nakamaru’s cheek.

Once in the car, listening to the two others who are happily chatting about the band session – which is rare of them but not unheard of – Kame can’t help but think he has heard Subaru’s voice before.

 

 

 

*

 

“I think Jun-kun is ready,” Nino tells Ohno, this time he is practicing a new card trick with his head lying on Ohno’s shoulders.

Ohno makes a noise, one that Nino chooses to interpret as a sound of approval before going on to mumble, “Sho-kun looks stressed today.”

Nino laughs and replies, ignoring the fact that Ohno is not responding to what he has been saying, “Then _sensei_ should do something about it!”

Ohno looks at Nino who has stood up and is grabbing Ohno’s wrist to drag him from his chair. They leave Ohno’s work cubicle, walk past Jun intentionally (Nino is sure that he is looking at them, or more accurately his hand around Ohno’s wrist) and then to the meeting room where Sho is busy preparing a presentation.

“I bring you Riida!” Nino declares to a stressed out Sho. “Have fun!”

And Nino shuts the door before Sho can react.

 

 

 

*

 

“You know Sho is _very_ loud,” Jun complains, visibly irritated by the sounds coming from the meeting room.

Nino winks and salutes.

Jun rolls his eyes.

 

 

 

*

 

 

It takes KAT-TUN another band session (for recording) and three days (of corporations scouting) to finally find someone who wants Kanjani as part of their industry. They’re not so young, don’t play pop, and don’t look like gravure models, so of course it’s a bit difficult, but…

“Do you really suggest that my own idiot of a sibling will go earn money somewhere else?” Nino tells Kame, and Kame cannot help but grin. Easier than he thought.

“Well maybe you don’t want his name associated to yours or—“

“We don’t even HAVE the same name!”

In between, Nakamaru waves papers. “Excuse me gentlemen, but shouldn’t we ask the boys from the band first?”

“Kimi-niichan said anything was okay!” Junno shouts from the other end of the room, earning a kick in the back by Koki.

Kame looks pointedly at Nakamaru. Nakamaru sighs.

“Fine, I’ll print the contracts.”

 

 

 

*

 

Koki and Junno work surprisingly well together for this one; they take the contracts, go to meet the guys, talk with them, reassure Hiroki that he won’t be left out, calm down Murakami’s worries about their percentage of incomes, come back with signatures and approvals, and even get champagne on their way back.

Without killing each other – or more like without Koki beating the crap out of Junno.

Kame would be appreciative if he wasn’t jealous that they got to see Subaru and he didn’t.

 

 

*

 

When the first round of the contracts has been finalized, Kame decides to ask someone out for drinks (but none of his colleagues, thank you very much, he saw them far too much this week.) Jun might be a little busy, Kame realizes, with the drama seasons starting, and decides to mail someone else instead. If Kame is to be awfully honest to himself, maybe he is just curious as to how two vastly different boys can capture his best friend’s interest.

To: Nino  
From: Kame  
 _Drinks?_

“Nino? Really? That _Nino_?” says a voice from behind Kame, “I didn’t know you have a fetish for people who have the same name as you.”

Kame jumps at the sudden voice and flips his phone shut. “Private mails, Ueda.”

“He is out of bounds.”

“It’s not what you think…”

Ueda throws him a disbelieving look. “Saw him and Aiba Masaki coming out of the love hotel before.”

“I know.”

“And he’s Nishikido’s brother. So if I see you dating him, I kill you.”

“I _know_ ,” Kame says, deciding to ask Jun out instead. They are things that he needs to talk to Jun about anyway.

 

 

 

*

 

Jun passes Kame the latest fashion magazines which he has finished reading when he arrives, a little later than scheduled due a few surprise phone calls. The two men exchange the usual pleasantries and go on to complain about their co-workers.

“Aiba triple-booked a talent today. I told him again and again to let Sho do the timetabling but he said that the producers all sounded desperate. How is he so naïve?”

“They always try to guilt trip people,” Kame concurs.

“Aiba is so nice that he is _stupid_ ,” Jun says, trying to sound angry about it, but all Kame hears is endearment.

“You like him that that way anyway,” Kame says, sipping his drink before continuing, “don’t you?”

“He is sleeping with Nino,” Jun says instead.

“You are avoiding my question,” Kame says. “It’s not like you don’t like Nino.”

“You think it’s possible to like two persons at the same time?”

“They both like you,” Kame cuts the chase short. Jun is trying to avoid the important questions by throwing the questioner into a theoretical discussion and change the course of the question. Old trick. But old tricks don’t work for old friends.

“They are sleeping together,” Jun repeats himself, but in his mind he is seeing the red marks on Nino’s shoulders.

“I know,” Kame replies, recalling his conversation with Ueda, “but that doesn’t mean that they can’t both like you.”

“Isn’t it strange to like two people at the same time? A three-way relationship is strange,” Jun tries again. Similar approach, different words.

“You are always strange anyway,” Kame says. “Starting from your bloodtype.”

Jun scowls, remembering how the blood donation drive is always asking him to donate blood because his blood type is so “rare” and they need his blood. Kame laughs at Jun’s reactions and Jun wants to pour the beverage over Kame’s head.

“Give it a try,” Kame tells him, finally. “Your heart already knows the answer.”

 

 

 

*

 

Kame doesn’t end up going home that night though, because Jun has gotten himself drunk, and after driving Jun home, cleaning up his vomit in the toilet, changing him out of his dirty clothes and tugging him in bed, Kame is tired enough to just crash on Jun’s sofa for the night.  


 

 

*

When Kame reports for work the next day, Nakamaru is again earlier than him (he claims that he works better in the morning) and he makes a face at Kame’s outfit.

“What is with that purple studded jacket and aren’t the holes on your jeans a little too big?”

“I was at Jun’s and borrowed his clothes,” Kame explains as he makes himself a cup of coffee. It is then that Ueda enters, shadow-boxing as he enters the door. He, too makes a face at Kame’s outfit.

“Gross. Why don’t you just date Matsumoto already?” Ueda comments. Kame finds it hard to tell if Ueda is joking or not since his eyes are once again hidden behind a pair of shades which he insists on wearing even indoors.

Kame shakes his head and decides to answer seriously. “We are too similar.”

 _And there are other people that he is interested in too,_ Kame adds in his heart.

“Kazuya is a star today!” Junno proclaims, way too brightly for a midweek morning, as he enters to the sound of “shut-up Junnosuke!”

 

 

 

*

 

To: Nino  
From: Kame  
 _I told Jun._

To: Kame  
From: Nino  
 _Told him what?_

To: Nino  
From: Kame  
 _Why don’t you find out yourself_

Nino smirks, and plots. Jun does have good taste in friends.

 

 

 

*

_Can you fall in love with two people at the same time?_

Jun enters Arashi & Associates the next day, hungover despite the good coffee and breakfast that Kame made for him in the morning. His fellow colleagues, sensing that he is crankier than usual, tip toes as they walk around the office, making sure to keep a three metre radius around him. When Jun himself senses that his mood still isn’t improving, he decides to head up to the rooftop for a quick smoke. It will weigh on him if the whole office is gloomy because of him.

He pulls out the cigarette and lights it as a light breeze blows against his face. The fresh air does make him feel a little better, he realizes as he blows out a puff of smoke from his cigarette.

Kame’s “give-it-a-try” comment has bothered Jun since he said it. Jun knows that Nino and Aiba have been sleeping together since his first day at Arashi & Associates. Nino has been the careful one, disguising his physical intimacy with Aiba as part of his personality, seizing opportunities to lie on Ohno’s lap or lean against Sho to neutralize the amount of contact that he has with Aiba. But Jun has always been an observant person, a quick glance at the way Aiba’s hands so gently on Nino’s back and how Nino leans back instinctively tells Jun another story altogether.

The story of a long-term relationship, of mutual trust and mutual dependence and how Jun is _not_ part of it.

He bites at the tip of the cigarette at the thought of it. He thinks of Nino, brat on the surface, caring deep inside, snarky on the surface but gentle inside. The contrast, the levels, he finds himself observing Nino, trying to understand more about him, but only drawn in deeper. By the time he realizes that he has been obsessed, it is already too late.

He _wants_ Nino. He wants it so bad that it hurts.

Aiba is a different story.

Aiba is bright like the sun, and kind like an angel. There are people out there who like to pretend that they are nice people and use their kindness as a weapon against others. But Aiba isn’t anything like that. Aiba is an idiot and his good intentions are usually transformed into disastrous decisions, which makes Jun torn between crying and laughing. Yet at the same time, the idiot is also the first one to apologize whenever anything goes wrong. Jun has always admired Aiba’s ability to apologize because he finds the word ‘sorry’ hard to escape from his lips, hindered by something called his pride. Most of the time Jun is well aware that he is the one in the wrong, but the act of saying sorry, the act of _losing_ just makes him sick in the stomach. With Aiba, though, Jun feels guilt-tripped. Aiba makes him feel that he has created a condition where Aiba feels the need to apologize.

Jun is so engrossed in his thoughts that he doesn’t realize that someone has crept up behind him. He only realizes the other person when the intruder sneaks up from behind Jun and plucks his cigarette from his fingers.

“Aiba-shi thinks too little, but you, Jun-kun, thinks too much,” Nino begins, putting the cigarette in between his lips. Jun remains silent and Nino takes another puff of his tobacco and moves in closer with Jun. If Nino tilts his head, his head will be on Jun’s shoulders, but he doesn’t.

“Why,” Jun asks finally.

“Why, what?” Nino asks, faux innocence all over.

“You are never as physically intimate with me as with everyone else,” Jun says, trying to sound mature about it.

Nino laughs, “Are you jealous, Junpon?”

“No,” Jun replies. Nino senses Jun’s body tense up, answering yes.

“That is because I want it to mean something,” Nino replies, much too easily for something so heavily loaded with meaning. He then leans in, crossing the final distance and looks up at Jun from his position on his shoulders. “Do you feel it, Jun? Do you?”

The distance between the two of them is too close and too much for Jun to bear. He leans in before he realizes he is doing so and presses his lips to Nino’s gently. He pulls back immediately, unsure and guilty. He should move away, he should not break up what is already perfect.

“Do it.” Nino whispers his approval as he drops the cigarette onto the floor and steps on it blindly, feeling the butt extinguish underneath his shoes. And that is all Jun needs to reengage Nino’s lips again, licking at them, asking for permission for his tongue to enter. Nino grants him that quickly, lips parting to welcome Jun’s tongue. Nino tastes passion, class, grace on Jun’s lips but underneath it all, he tastes the insecurity, the fear and the loneliness and it grips him as hard, or even harder, as it does the first time Nino realizes that he is in love with Jun. He reaches out to grip at the Jun’s shirt as the kiss gets more urgent, feeling Jun’s arms wrap around his torso.

Nino kisses like the enigma that he is to Jun, the latter realizes: deep, sensitive with an icing of playfulness. And when Nino opens up to him, Jun can clearly feel the shyness that is hidden under all these layers, making Jun wanting to reach out to protect Nino. His heart warms at the revelation – Nino doesn’t like showing his vulnerabilities to others and the fact that he does to Jun, makes Jun special.

When finally they part for air, Jun looks at Nino and realizes that, they are both vulnerable people in the end and more similar than they ever thought they would be.

“That’s why we need Masaki,” Nino says, reading Jun’s thoughts, “In the end, he’s the strongest of us three.”

“We shouldn’t be doing this,” Jun say, arms loosening around Nino’s torso with the mention of Aiba.

“We want this,” Nino tells, his hand on Jun’s arm; “we want you too.”

“Really?” Jun asks again, because what can he add to their relationship, except destroying it?

“Really,” Nino says. “We want you so much that it hurts.”

Jun tightens his hold on Nino, letting the realization slowly sink in. Nino, being the opportunist he is, sneaks his hand underneath Jun’s top.

“Here? What if someone comes?” Jun asks in shock.

“You don’t seem to hate that idea though,” Nino comments, reaching out for Jun’s hardening flesh.

“You seem to want it more than me though,” Jun retorts, feeling Nino’s arousal against his thigh and takes the initiative to pushing Nino against the nearest wall, bending down, and undoing Nino’s belt as he does so. Nino feels himself getting harder at how fast Jun works and how he realizes that Jun wants this too.

“We will leave the best for Aiba, so you will have to make do with this,” Jun says, pulling Nino’s cock out of his briefs and frowning at Nino’s choice in underwear.

“Pftt, stupid idiot,” Nino says, more endearing than anything else. He chooses to ignore Jun’s reactions to his choice of clothing and focus on how happy Aiba will be instead.

All threads of coherent thought escape him as Jun takes him full into his mouth. The feel of Jun’s lips around his arousal causes Nino to scratch his nails against the wall in an attempt to let seek some composure. It doesn’t help very much because the sight of Jun’s hollowed cheeks sucking his own cock only makes him want to thrust into Jun’s mouth. He does so gently at first, then rougher as he gets harder in Jun’s mouth.

Jun looks up at Nino through his bangs which are drenched with his perspiration and Nino feels his heart stop at the image in front of him- a combination of a turned on Jun combined with a challenging glare, _is that all you can give?_ ; he can hear it from his eyes.

Jun undoes his own pants as he feels them get restrictive against his own erection, while keeping his mouth on Nino. He reaches, slightly blindly, for himself and rubs, groaning against Nino’s erection. In response, Nino pulls at Jun’s hair, and the pressure makes Jun groan even more. A few more thrusts later, Nino comes and when he finally comes down from his high, Jun has come as well and has collapsed against Nino, panting as he rides it all out.

“So it’s that easy huh,” Jun finally says.

“You make things way too complicated for yourself.”

“So how are we going to go back,” Jun says, with the function of his brain returning to him.

“Just like this?” Nino says nonchalantly. “It’s not like Oh-chan and Sho-chan don’t have their own entertainment during office hours.”

 

 

 

*

 

 

Aiba, in contrast with Jun and Nino, is a simple person. When he arrives home to see Jun cooking them pasta for dinner (dressed in a purple apron!), a warm feeling envelops him and he runs towards Jun and gives him a huge hug because his heart is overwhelmed with this warmness that he _needs_ to show.

He wants to make Jun and Nino happy.

Both of them.

Nino laughs at him and bullies him all the time, but he always picks up Aiba’s calls when he calls at random times of the night because he felt insecure and cannot sleep although most of the phone calls involve Nino poking fun of him. Jun too, despite the way Jun keeps whacking him (it honestly doesn’t really hurt), he keeps not-so-gently reminds him of his schedule and cook him his favorite foods. According to Aiba logic, Jun and Nino are only mean to people they like because they are terrible at showing their emotions.

Aiba will show all the emotions for Jun and Nino then.

Jun reaches for Aiba’s hand to signal him to let go. “Dinner first, you idiot.”

Jun kisses Aiba after dinner, making sure that he rinses his mouth properly because he is not interested in tasting pasta in Aiba’s mouth. Nino laughs at Jun’s various demands until he glares at him to do the same as well.

“Look who’s the master of the house right now,” Nino taunts. Jun throws the toothbrush at him, in which Nino dodges skillfully. The toothbrush lands on the floor behind Nino who clicks his tongue in response.

“Nino can share my toothbrush!” Aiba says enthusiastically.

“Gross,” Nino replies, no malice in his voice. Jun decides to ignore Nino and instead grabs Aiba, teeth now properly brushed, and kisses him. When Aiba’s tongue enters Jun’s mouth, the first thing he notices is warmth. A distinctly Aiba-like warmth that is threatening to heat up not just Jun’s lips, but his heart, too.

Jun lets him.

Aiba kisses rather sloppily, skill wise; while it usually would tickle Jun in the wrong places, because it’s _Aiba_ , everything is alright. Aiba tastes like kindness underneath it all, a boy that just wants to make everyone happy. Jun holds Aiba tight when he realizes that he wants to make sure nobody wipes off the smile off this boy’s face.

“Don’t forget me,” Nino says, shoving Aiba roughly aside, and capturing Jun’s lips in a kiss. Jun freezes in shock for a small moment when he realizes the lingering taste of Aiba mixes with Nino’s. He tastes the lingering taste of summer that is Aiba and Nino, is autumn, slightly melancholic and maybe mysterious, but they both mix into his ice-cold heart of winter.

And together they are spring.

It’s perfect.

He doesn't drift off for too long because Nino is demanding Jun to respond to his kiss as he drags Jun down the corridor to their bedroom. All the games must have trained Nino’s fingers because, by they time they enter the bedroom, Nino has already managed to remove Jun’s top and belt. Jun is not faring too badly either, if he can say so himself, because he managed to take Nino’s shirt off in that time. When Jun and Nino finally part from their kiss, Jun notices that Aiba is already in the bedroom (when did he move there?) and is beginning to jerk himself off at the sight of the younger duo’s state of dishevelment. Jun moves away from Nino and crawls up on the bed, batting Aiba’s hands away. He holds both of Aiba’s wrists because he doesn’t trust Aiba follow instructions at all.

“You have no use for your hands if we are around,” he tells Aiba, voice laced with lust and full of promise. Nino joins the other two on the bed, and sneaks his small hands underneath to unbutton Jun’s jeans and pulls them off. Jun kicks them off absentmindedly as he licks a trail down Aiba’s torso, teasing his nipples with his tongue. He smirks at the sounds that are escaping from Aiba’s lips and gets more vicious with his ministrations. Nino at the same time, has taken the opportunity to enjoy the full view of Jun’s back, letting his small fingers trace his spine. His lips follow his hands shortly, as he marvels at the way Jun’s back muscles flex as he moves.

“Ninoooo, help,” he hears Aiba, half whining, half moaning. Nino turns his attention to Aiba, hard and dripping from Jun’s touches. “Touch me…”

Nino looks at Jun, who looks back at him. “Don’t be impatient, Masaki, Jun will treat you well.”

Aiba whines and offers a deal. “I will let you fuck me this time, Ninnno~”

“I will have my turn next time,” Nino says, throwing the lube from the bedside table to Aiba. “Now prep me instead.”

Jun lets go of Aiba’s hands and they reposition themselves. More accurately, Jun and Nino reposition themselves and shove Aiba in the position they want him. When done, Aiba preps Nino happily, not noticing that Jun has snuck behind him with the other tube of lube in his hands. The shock that Aiba feels when Jun’s fingers enter him causes him to jerk and his fingers directly hit Nino’s prostate. Nino curses, Aiba moans and Jun leans in towards Aiba, telling Aiba how exactly he will fuck him.

Nino benefits from whatever dirty talking that Jun is doing because, as Aiba gets more and more excited, his fingers scissor faster into Nino and before long, he is more than ready. He looks at Aiba and is quite sure, from the way Aiba’s cock is looking right now, that he is too.

Nino turns to watch as Jun positions himself at Aiba’s entrance and pushes in, clutching the bed sheets at how fucking hot the sight is. Taking deep breaths to calm himself somewhat, he maneuvers himself so that Aiba’s cock is at his entrance. Jun waits for Aiba to penetrate Nino before he moves, the ripple effect of it being Aiba thrusting deep into Nino. They get into a rhythm quickly, and soon the only sounds that they can hear are the of skin rubbing against skin and moans of pleasure.

The chain continues until they come – Aiba first from the double simulations and then Nino, who fists himself to completion. Jun only comes slightly after, the final push coming from the looks and sounds of delirium that come from the other two.

That night, when the three of them sleep, all Aiba can say is that he loves both Nino and Jun.

Either one of them would make him happy.

But he only feels complete with them both.

 

 

 

*

 

 

During the week, Kanjani gets to appear in three gigs and, along with their work at the shops, they seem horribly tired. Kame decides to show up at rehearsal, to see how restless they actually are – and to check Subaru out a bit, if he’s honest with himself.

He’s once again mesmerized at the way Subaru sings and acts once he’s got a mic in his hand, but he still sees the way they yawn and sigh between songs.

“You’re going to have to chose,” he tells them once rehearsal ends. “You can’t have two different jobs. You should at least close the shops for a bit, and…”

Subaru’s stare is enough to stop him in his well-practiced speech; they’re not the first ones wanting to combine fame and work.

“What the hell are you even saying?” the singer growls, now glaring at Kame. “We’re not closing anything. If you want us to be less busy, then stop over-booking us.”

“Three lives a week isn’t over-booking!”

“Whatever, but like I said…” – and Kame almost shivers at the way Subaru comes closer, fire in his eyes – “…we’re not closing our shops.”

Kame feels more dazed than annoyed when he leaves then.

 

 

 

*

 

“How is it that you are so concise when you are giving me advice and so long-winded when it comes to your own?” Jun comments after Kame spends an hour basically illustrating how the contrast between Subaru’s characters fascinates him.

“I _am_ concise.”

“You just spent the past 2 hours in a monologue about Shibutani Subaru!”

“You participated too,” Kame tries to whine, the alcohol in his system bringing out the childish side of him a little more.

“Uh huh,” comments Jun, wondering why everyone comes to him when they have love problems. “If saying uh huh counts.”

 

 

 

*

 

 

“Kame seems to be really interested in Subaru,” Jun comments after the three of them have come down from the high.

“Jun-pon, that is a terrible post sex conversation,” Nino whines and clings closer to Aiba.

Jun ruffles Nino’s hair and continues, “I am concerned about my friends.”

“Thinking of other people while being with us,” Nino continues and Aiba makes noises of agreement – the post-climactic mood rendering him slightly less enthusiastic but more endearing, according to Jun. Not that he will say it out loud. That said, Nino does recall how Jun was extremely tied up in his friend Oguri’s recent wedding to a certain model.

“I don’t care about your friends, either we sleep or we go for another round.”

“Another round?” Jun turns to look at Nino, eyebrows raised.

“They don’t call me the sexual powerhouse for nothing, you know,” Nino replies, throwing a million-dollar smirk at Jun which he has mastered from the various talents from the company.

Jun winces.

 

 

 

*

 

To: Ryo-chan  
From: Kazu  
 _Do something about Kame and Subaru. It ruins my nights._

To: Kazunari  
From: Ryo  
 _Not free. Don’t wanna know._

To: Ryo-chan  
From: Kazu  
 _Remember Toda Erika?_

Ryo doesn’t reply, only curses and shuts the cover of the phone.

 

 

*

 

“Still mad?”

“What about?”

“What Kamenashi said.”

Subaru grits his teeth, closes his eyes. He’s mad, yeah, but not really at the other guy anymore; he’s mad at himself for scaring him away.

“It’s okay,” he finally says, hanging a brightly colored wife-beater, “he just wanted us to be alright.”

“Kazunari says that he talks a lot about you.”

Freezing, Subaru almost lets the clothes fall on the floor. “What?”

“Kamenashi, he’s impressed by you as far as I know. Maybe you guys should hang out more often? Who knows, you could become great friends.”

Friends, yeah. If only Subaru’s mind wasn’t wandering far, far past the limits of friendship…

“We’ll see,” he eventually croaks, not caring about Ryo chuckling.

He still hopes he’ll see Kame again sometimes soon.

 

 

 

*

 

 

Subaru hopes so much, he ends up dreaming about it. About shy touches growing bolder, about soft lips kissing him passionately, about fingers pulling at his hair until he’s crying out and satisfied.

The only thing that keeps him from being happy when he wakes up the next morning is that, actually, it’s 6 in the morning, and his damn neighbor is _vacuuming_. Groggily wondering how he can make it stop without moving, Subaru just grabs his guitar – the one which is always next to the bed – and angrily strokes the cords.

It doesn’t stop the weirdo next door, but it makes him feel a bit less frustrated.

It also gives him an idea for a song.

 

 

 

*

 

 

“Someone needs to pass the photo-taking session schedule to the boys,” Kame says from his desk.

“Kame can do it,” Ueda says, scribbling musical notes onto his sheet of paper. Koki and Junno agree and complete their agreement with childish whistling that makes Kame want to throw a baseball at them.

Kame looks at Nakamaru, hoping to find an alliance but Nakamaru shakes his head and votes for Kame as well.

“Kame and Subaru kissing under the tree,” Junno and Koki chorus happily.

Kame throws a stapler at the duo instead.

 

 

 

*

 

 

Kame gets a message from an unknown American number.

 _Good luck with Subaru,_ the message reads and all Kame can do is groan.

 

 

 

*

 

“Hi, can I have cream pasta with extra cheese,” says the visitor at Kame’s door.

Kame is very tempted to slam the door on Hiroki but he lets that leech in anyway and opens the fridge; Hiroki showers him with praises about how he would want to be Kame’s boyfriend if Kame was a girl, so that he can eat all the good food that Kame cooks.

“I wouldn’t want you as my boyfriend if I were a girl,” Kame retorts and Hiroki looks at him like a hurt puppy.

Kame snorts. “Why are you here anyway?”

It turns out that Hiroki is visiting a friend who lives next door to Kame and the friend happens to not be in. Kame mutters under his breath that Hiroki should have called before visiting to make sure people are actually at home before heading out of his house. To that, Hiroki cheekily replies that “ _it’s a good thing that he isn’t home because I get to eat Kame!pasta!_ ”

Kame rolls his eyes and comments offhandedly, “I bet your friend is the one who plays the electric guitar and sings at 3 in the fucking morning.”

Hiroki shifts his feet uneasily. “Subaru sounds like someone who would do something like that indeed.”

His brother freezes.

“What did you say?”

“Nothing!” Hiroki says too loudly to be honest; “let’s go out instead! My treat!”

But it’s too late; Kame grabs Hiroki’s wrist and pulls him closer with a strength he didn’t know he possessed – Hiroki is far taller than him, after all.

“I will ask again: what did you just say?”

Hiroki whines. “Shit, Ryo-chan’s going to kill me…”

“You seriously mean that the asshole next to my door is Subaru? _Really?_ ”

Cringing, the younger boy nods. “Yeah, though it was supposed to be a surprise. I forgot to tell you at first and then Ryo-chan said that it would be fun to see how you’d react when both told about it, face-to-face…”

“Fun? Are you kidding me? You find that fun?”

“Y-yes?”

Kame doesn’t reply. Mostly because his brain is busy linking the hints together – he knew it, he knew that voice! – and in the end, the only thing he can say is, “I need a drink.”

Reaching for a bottle of red wine, Hiroki makes a mental note to kill his best friend; he’s in for a long night.

 

 

 

*

 

Kame sulks. He sulks because he’s stupid and he _should_ have realized that Subaru was his neighbor. To be fair, though, he _did_ recognize his voice, he was just too star-struck to really think about it.

Sitting next to him on the kitchen counter, Hiroki sighs.

“So. What will you do now?”

“Nothing,” Kame replies bitterly. “What do you want me to do? Tell him he was one hell of a jerk as a neighbor but I like him and now will tolerate his guitar playing? That sounds stupid; even you wouldn’t say such bullshit.”

Hiroki blinks. “Well. I would. It’s not like he doesn’t like you anyway…”

With how fast Kame turns his head and how big his eyes are going, his brother really thinks for a moment that Kame is possessed. Or maybe seriously in love.

“He _what_? Do you have more incredible things to throw in my face tonight?”

“Come on,” Hiroki shrugs, “everybody saw it. He can’t stop talking about you,” he adds.

Kame deflates; Jun was right, giving advice is one thing; following it is another thing entirely.

“I don’t know how to act though.”

“Considering you’re ‘that weirdo neighbor who screams at sports’ in his mind, I guess we’ll have to play nicely.”

“How?” Kame asks, pouting.

Hiroki chuckles. “Yoko is your solution.”

 

 

 

*

 

Aside from being a solution, Yoko is mostly laughing very hard when Uchi explains the problem to him. He laughs so hard that Junno comes along and tries to help, too – and Kame wonders if they even sleep at night in this family.

“That’s the most incredible story I ever heard,” Yoko finally says, wiping happy tears from his eyes once Uchi is done talking. “But I have good news for you: we can use the whole neighbor thing to our advantage.”

“How?” is all that Kame can say.

Junno winks, trying to be charming as ever. “Let Kimi-niichan deal with it, and don’t fret!”

Kame is even more worried.

 

 

*

 

“I am _not_ singing this song!”

“But he will be there, it’s your best chance!”

“Yoko, leave me alone or I’m going to castrate you!”

“… fine.”

 

 

*

 

 

To: Gorilla  
From: Yoko  
 _Subaru doesn’t want to sing what he wrote for Kame at the next gig. Help!_

To: Yoko  
From: Shingo  
 _Idiot, you still don’t know how to deal with him even after 15 years._

To: Gorilla  
From: Yoko  
 _…does that mean you’ll help me?_

To: Gorilla  
From: Yoko  
 _Oi, answer me!_

To: Gorilla  
From: Yoko  
 _MURAKAMI!_

To: Gorilla  
From: Yoko  
 _Why are you ignoring meeeeee_

To: Yoko  
From: Shingo  
 _Stop whining. I talked to Subaru. He’ll sing the song._

Yoko, annoyed that Shingo had succeeded where he couldn’t, doesn’t reply.

 

 

 

*

 

Breathe in, breathe out. It’s a gig like any other. But Subaru’s breath chokes him when he remembers who’s sitting in the audience, and which song he’s going to sing.

Never again will he let Shingo convince him of anything. He even makes a mental note to pay him back for this trick at least twice as hard.

But for now, his biggest problem is Yasu, who’s pushing him toward the stage, where the others are waiting for him, and he knows there’s no turning back.

They start playing, and he wills himself to calm down; he closes his eyes, tries to forget about how nervous he is, and starts singing.

 

 

 

I just can not tell how to love you,  
But I know that I need you now, so trust me.  
You don't even know how to love me,  
Cause you've got to know who on earth I am.

When he opens his eyes again, there’s only one person in the crowd he can see.

 

 

 

I just can not tell what should I do,  
So I'm wandering through every night alone…  
You don't even know what I'm doing,  
But I'm fallin' in forbidden love with you, ohoooh…

And then, nothing matters anymore, because music and feelings fill his soul and Subaru isn’t scared anymore; he just hopes his voice conveys his emotions, at least for this time.

 

 

 

*

 

When the song’s finished, the people in the room clap and whistle and scream for one more. Maru giggles next to him and Ohkura drums in rhythm with the crowd’s yelling, but the only thing Subaru can see in the seat where Kame is sitting.

Was sitting.

Kame left before the end of the song.

 

 

 

*

 

Having a night alone, these days, is a rare thing for Jun (and not a really loved one too), but for once that he had planned to rest and take a long bath while listening to classical music, his phone rings and someone’s growling on the other end of the call.

“This little shit lied to me,” Kame snarls, sounding infuriated, “he told me Subaru liked me but he doesn’t!”

“What are you…”

“They made me go to the gig, y’know? They made me go, and I sat there, for two hours, and you know what? I had hope, and seriously, I couldn’t keep my eyes off him, because, damn, Jun, he’s so incredible, when he’s on stage he shines, really, and, and, and…”

Jun sighs, shuts off the tap and checks the water. Perfect. “And who told you Subaru liked you, exactly?”

“My brother,” his friend spits, “this leech just tried to get more things from me, didn’t he? He lied to me, he—“

“Why would he say that to you if it’s not true? And are you so mad, all of a sudden?”

“He sang this song! It was—it wasn’t really a love song, but it was one in fact! And, just, I don’t know who the hell is this girl, or this guy, he’s so in love with, but, fuck, Jun…”

The next thing Jun hears after entering his bath, is his best friend crying. He cringes, mentally cursing the worse timing ever for things to happen, and gets back out of the tub.

“Where are you?”

Kame sniffles, sounding more tired than angry now. “R-Roppongi? I think.”

“Okay, you know what? Stay there, I’m coming to pick you up. We’ll go get a drink, yeah?”

“Or two or twenty,” Kame growls. “I’ll be waiting for you then.” And then the call ends and Jun really hopes that things aren’t as bad as they sound.

 

 

 

*

 

 

Even though Jun tries his hardest at calming Kame down, it only half-works. Because, well, he _does_ calm down, but he still hates the world – in the correct descending order, he hates his brother, Junno, Junno’s brother, Koki for making him go at the hairdresser salon on that day long ago, and Nino for having a brother who plots in his back. In the end, they all seem to have annoying brothers. Surely he should send Ueda to break a few legs.

The next day, Kame wakes up with a headache so strong he feels like there are thousands of taiko drums in his head. He also realizes that he’s lying on Jun’s couch, which makes him feel slightly better; there’s no way he can go back to his place where he might hear or see Subaru. It still hurts a bit too much.

When he arrives at work, no one says nothing, but he knows that Junno must have told the others about the whole thing already; the fact that Ueda, of all people, decides to answer all of his phone calls is as clear as a 3-mile-long sparkling panel with “WE KNOW” written on it.

Nakamaru and Koki take over managing all that’s left to manage with Kanjani – they’re all set under Arashi & Associates’ cover now anyway.

For the next week, Kame drowns himself in work, as much as he can; he spends two nights at Jun’s at first, but then Nino starts showing up, and Kame doesn’t trust himself to remain calm. He asks Yamashita from the advertisement service to call Jin and ask him if he can lend him his apartment while he’s in America, and Jin himself sends Kame a mail telling him where the extra key is – hidden in one of Koki’s drawers, the ones he never opens because they’re full of old folders and Koki always says that, after 3 months of waiting, said folders can wait a few years more. (To make it simple, Koki likes procrastinating too much.)

He makes himself at home in Jin’s apartment, buying himself new clothes to avoid going back to his own place, and life goes on without any trouble.

For the next two weeks, at least.

 

 

 

*

 

It takes a few days for him to hear the full story, but Subaru manages (by cornering all the right persons with glares and threatening looks); there are still pieces missing to the story, mostly why the hell did Kame think that his song was for somebody else, but work doesn’t give him too much time to think about it.

He’s still sad, though, and decides never to sing that goddamned song ever again.

Thankfully, his neighbor doesn’t seem to be around then, and Subaru enjoys being able to play guitar until 3 in the morning and sleeping ‘till midday without no one vacuuming or shouting at unholy hours.

But, after a week, he realizes that it’s too silent – he was used to that fight of noises somehow.

It’s sometime along that (odd) moment in his life that Subaru learns, from Maru, that he didn’t know all of the truth, and that if it feels lonely without the weirdo next door, it’s surely because the weirdo next door was _Kame_.

Unbelievable as it seems, it still dawns on him like a fifty-ton rock when he looks at the mailboxes down the building and read, under the number next to his own, _Kamenashi Kazuya_.

Subaru feels dumb, numb, and like the world has gone crazy.

He tells his friends about it, then promptly gets himself drunk as hell.

The seven others decide that it can’t remain that way.

 

 

 

*

 

“I will beat you to a bloody pulp,” Ueda says slowly, but Ryo just clicks his tongue in annoyance and turns to Shingo. “Can I punch him?” Shingo shrugs.

“No!” Yoko interjects, grabbing Junno by the collar and pushing him along. “We’re going to see Kame, that’s all!”

“He doesn’t want to see you,” Koki sighs. “For that matters, he barely tolerates anyone but Matsumoto around him these days anyway.”

In the background, Hiroki grunts. He has heard enough bullshit, it’s time to act.

Passing by Nakamaru who (weakly) tries to stop him, he walks straight to his brother’s office and knocks on the door hard enough to alert all the people working in the building.

“Go away!” Kame’s voice, muffled by the door, shouts from inside.

“You have to do something! Subaru’s miserable now that you turned your back to him!”

“Not my problem, tell him that I wish him all the luck in the world with his… new pal.”

“What the fuck,” Ryo shouts, kicking the door – Ueda decided that things woudn’t move on if they didn’t act, and therefore let them all pass.

“I said, go away!”

“He loves you!” Hiroki says, punching the door; “whatever scenario you made in your silly brain is totally wrong, and you need to listen to me, now!”

“But the song—!”

“Was for you, you dickhead!”

There’s a long silence then, and things shifting in Kame’s office. Finally, the door to his office opens, and the man looks up tentatively at his sibling.

“Really?”

Hiroki nods.

“Fuck,” Kame breathes. “What am I going to do now?”

Yoko coughs, getting everybody’s attention.

“Actually, I have an idea.”

 

 

 

*

 

 

His favorite guitar is there, silent. It’s red with skulls stickers and infinity symbols drawn all over it by Shota. Subaru likes this guitar the best, because its sound is just perfect – raw yet beautiful.

But, he doesn’t feel like playing. It’s like inspiration vanished, leaving him here, lonely and empty. It’s stupid, he thinks, how a single person can change your life with just a little move. Subaru never meant to fall in love, but, damn, he did. How did it even happen? He doesn’t know. It feels like, one moment life was normal and shit, and the next moment he was only thinking about that man and the whole universe had stopped spinning.

 

 

 

I just can not tell how to love you,  
But I know that I need you now, so trust me.

Subaru blinks. Wait, is it…

 

 

 

You don't even know how to love me,  
Cause you've got to know who on earth I am.

Standing up, he growls. It’s he song, he knows it, but… Isn’t it coming from Kame’s apartment?

 

 

 

I just can not tell what should I do,  
So I'm wandering through every night alone…  
You don't even know what I'm doing,  
But I'm fallin' in forbidden love with you…

The next thing he knows, his feet are dragging him out of his bedroom, out of his own apartment. Someone’s singing, and he knows this voice, and…

Subaru knocks on the door. The door opens.

Breathe in, breathe out.

Subaru steps inside, remembering all the times he cursed at his neighbor, and he smiles inwardly. He walks past the kitchen, and, in the living room, he stops.

The one singing, is Kame. Kame who, upon seeing Subaru, stops singing and smiles.

“And you are?”

His heartbeat reaches a speed unheard of ‘till today.

“Shibutani Subaru.”

“You don’t ask for my name?”

“Yeah, not very professional.”

Kame laughs, and in a matter of seconds they’re in front of each other.

Subaru learns then that the other man’s lips are as soft as they look.

 

 

*

 

The end -- or maybe the beginning.


End file.
